Harry Potter and the Serpent's Secrets
by Clockwerx
Summary: A discovery in the most unlikely of places. The choice to go back to a place of sorrow gives rise to change of perspective. In the chambers of Hogwarts's fallen serpent, change is born. A choice that might give Harry the chance to survive his destiny...
1. Prologue

**A/N:** This is my first published piece on the site. While this is Unbeta'd, I hope there aren't too many mistakes and that people have a positive response my first real attempt at fan fiction.

**Disclaimer:** The world of Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling and various publishers. I make no claim to ownership. Any similarities with other fan fiction are an unfortunate consequence of me having read countless other stories by various authors. I hope that as my plot develops, I can put my own spin on the melting pot of ideas that form the basis of most stories on this site. I hope this isn't too similar to canon or fanon, but there will undoubtedly be parallels.

The sun set gracefully over a quaint neighborhood in Southeast England. A young boy sat quietly by the window in his room, staring at the circular scar on his arm. His name was Harry Potter and he had just come home from his second year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It had been a traumatizing year, what with a millennium old basilisk running rampant around the school. He had never felt more helpless in his life, staring at his best friend Hermione petrified in the hospital and seeing his other best friend Ron's little sister sprawled out on the floor of the Chamber of Secrets.

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Harry remembered going down and explore the chamber in the weeks following the Chamber incident. Not only was there the carcass of the great serpent, which looked as if it had only just been killed, but there was a whole set of room in one of the tunnels. There was a kitchen, a potions lab, a common room, and a bedroom. They were of course decorated in Slytherin colors, but the most important find was the library. Using an expression he'd heard the upper years using, Hermione would have creamed at the sight of it.

In it he's found the original journals of Salazar Slytherin among other interesting books, a he'd been surprised that Voldemort hadn't cleaned out the place, until he tried to walking out with a book about an interesting topic: Occlumency. As soon as he's stepped over the threshold of the library with his nose buried in the book, it had disappeared in a flash of light and returned to its shelf. Surprised he had fallen over and frantically looked around thinking someone had tried to curse him and had hit the book instead.

After he calmed down, Harry returned and finished the first few chapters of the book before returning to the surface and going to sit by his favorite tree by the lake. As he sat there contemplating what had happed over the year, h e remembered that he would soon be trapped at his aunt's house and grew depressed. He had finally started filling out from eating properly after his years at the Dursley's. Standing up, he went into the school and headed towards the kitchens he'd found from reading the journals. Entering, he was mobbed by an energetic group of house elves.

He asked if there was a way he they could prepare something that would allow him to have meals for the summer. Knobby, wearing a frilly pillowcase with the Hogwarts crest, said they could prepare a never-ending picnic basket for him that would be ready in a week. Harry thanked them profusely, to which they broke out into happy tears, then left and returned to Gryffindor tower. As he stepped through the portrait hole, a bushy-haired missile impacted his chest.

"Harry. Where have you been, I've been looking everywhere for you," the now Identified Hermione rambled. "You've been disappearing lately, and you haven't even been back to the dorms all weekend!"

"He he. Calm down Hermione, I've been around…" Harry replied uneasily, rubbing a hand through his messy hair. "I was just walking around, since there are no more basilisks slithering around."

"Nice try Harry, but you're not evading me that easily," Hermione replied bossily, her hands on her hips. "You have bags under your eyes. Have you been having nightmares, or something?"

The conversation continued until Harry eventually sat down with Hermione by the fire. He told her about his fear, how hopeless he felt when he saw her and Ginny like that. He confessed that he would have felt lost without her the rest of his time at Hogwarts. Finally he talked about how much he dreaded going back to the Dursley's and what he had asked the house elves to prepare for him. Then he regaled her with stories about what he found in the chamber and as soon as he mentioned the library, she stood up and dragged him out of Gryffindor, to the amusement of those in the common room, especially the girls who began giggling. As he was being man-handled through the corridors, Harry glanced out the window and realized it was drawing close to noon.

"Hermione, why don't we have lunch first, before you drown yourself in books, they ain't going anywhere."

"Fine," she huffed impatiently, "but we're going right after. Understand!"

"Yes mistress. As you wish," Harry jested and he bowed exaggeratedly.

Hermione playfully smacked his arm, her lip twitching in amusement. After a filling meal, they headed off towards Myrtle's bathroom and only then did he notice that Ron was missing. "Mione, where's Ron?"

"Oh! He's in the Ravenclaw common room. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff hold a chess tournament at the end of the year for second years and up. He was ecstatic."

"Well good for him then. I know he was getting bored with trouncing me and the rest of the guys, Neville especially," Harry replied with a smirk; there was someone who was actually _worse_ at wizarding chess than he was.

"Not to completely change the subject and all, but what exactly did you find in the Chamber, and since when have you been exploring it?"

"The day after I rescued Ginny and Lockhart was sent to St. Mungo's, I was feeling a little alone since Ron went back to the Burrow with his brothers, since Madame Pomfrey sent Ginny home to recover. You were still petrified, and I remembered seeing a door as I was running from the basilisk in the Chamber tunnels. When I got there and opened the door, air rushed into the door like when people open doors in those space movies. The first thing I saw was a common room, kind of like how the Slytherin's looked that time me and Ron polyjuiced as Crabbe and Goyle, but it looked more comfortable. It was a bit cold so I lit the fire then went to explore where the other doors lead to. The bathroom was behind the first door; well I think it was a bathroom? There were showers and all but the bathtub had like a hundred taps around it and it was the size of a swimming pool! When I tried some of the taps, different colored bath water came out. Some of them smelled like fruits and stuff, and there was even one that had rainbow colored bubbles!"

"Really," Hermione interrupted, "that's like how Angelina described the Prefect's bathroom."

"Yea, I'd heard. There was also a potions room, Snape would have actually smiled! It had all sorts of weird stuff in jars, and there were different benches and drawers. It looked kind of like the chemistry lab at my primary school. The third door opened into a corridor, and there were three doors on each side that each had their own bedroom and there was a double door at the end of the corridor that led to the Master. It was huge, surprisingly; it was decorated in Ravenclaw colors. Through another door there was just an empty room, it was half the size of the Great Hall. The last room was really special. It was two floors high, and the ceiling is just like the one in the Great Hall. All over the walls and on shelves covering the ground floor were books. Lots and lots of books, with all different subjects; there were books on everyth… wooooaaahhhh, Hermione!!" Harry didn't even get to finish because Hermione dragged him the rest of the way to Myrtle's toilet.

"Harry! No time, open it!" was all an out of breath Hermione could say as they finally reached the sinks.

"_Open__!" _He hissed and the sink rearranged itself until the Entrance to the Chamber was visible. "We just have to slide down."

Hermione peered down the shadowed hole then turned to Harry and terrifyingly said, "Harry? Maybe this isn't such a good idea. Harry. What are you doing? Harry? HARRY JAMES POTTER!! Unhand me right this instant! HAARRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…!!!!!!!!!!"

She could only yell as Harry grabbed onto her arm and pulled her with him as he leapt into the hole. "Come on Mione. It's like a roller coaster! He replied with a smile.

"I hate roller coasters! When this is over I'm going to kill you!"

His only reply was, " Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

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Harry had shown Hermione the set of rooms and they were now in the library, Hermione with a smile on her face and a tall stack of books on the table in front of her. Harry had returned to reading the book on Occlumency and was now trying the first exercise. Imagining a fire blazing in a dark void he tried 'burning' the thoughts floating around in his head. He was met with little success. Every time he believed he had burned all his stray thoughts, more would pop up. He kept trying, what he just had for lunch went up in smoke. The fact that when Hermione smiled he felt weird, like butterflies were going crazy in stomach crackled in the fire. That the basilisk hadn't started decomposing slowly succumbed to the flames. Eventually, all there was the sizzling of the dying embers and a feeling of serenity. Harry was just basking in the feeling of calm when he felt someone shaking him. He open his eyes to se Hermione worriedly staring at him from right before his face.

"GAH!" Harry yelled as he leapt of his chair in fright.

"Harry, what happened? I've been trying to get your attention for a while, it's time for dinner."

Looking at his watch, Harry was startled to see they had spent almost seven hours in the Chamber, and only then did his stomach grumble in protest. He replied, "I was trying the first exercise in this Occlumency book. When I'm done, the book says I'll be calmer and no one will be able to read my mind."

"People can do that!" Hermione exclaimed in surprise. Maybe that's how the Headmaster always knows when we break the rules! Or why Professor Snape always blames you for things without any evidence."

"Bloody hel…"

"Language Harry!" Hermione snapped.

"Um. Anyways, that would explain everything. Do you want to read the book too. It will help you remember things for tests and stuff."

"Yeah, we'll come back after diner. We don't want anyone to be suspicious. Maybe Ron will come with us?"

"Hermione, this is Ron we're talking about. He wouldn't do anything that involved reading that isn't school work. Especially if you told him we've found more books. He'd start blabbering about Quidditch."

"I thought you loved Quidditch. I love flying and playing the sport, but I don't want to play chess and talk about the Chudley Cannons nonexistent chances at winning the League."

"I guess you're right. How do we get back up the pipe?"

Harry could only smirk as they walked towards the entrance. He turned to her and said one sentence that caused all color to drain from Hermione's face.

"I brought my Nimbus..."

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As the sun finished setting over Privet Drive, Harry smiled as he remembered the… interesting end to his second year at Hogwarts. As the street lights began to turn on, he remembered the other interesting thing that happened on the train ride to King's Cross. Meeting and becoming friends with a special girl by the name of Luna Lovegood…


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Well, here is the first chapter of my story. Again this is Unbeta'd, but I hope it goes over well. Hope to maintain a consistent, somewhat fast update speed, but my muse is being uncooperative and already wants a vacation. Anyways, on with the story.

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Chapter 1: Realizations

Harry Potter sat basking under the rays of the rising sun. He had returned to the Dursley's three weeks ago and was just now getting the hand of 'the flame and the void.' By now he had cut down the time it took him to reach a state of calmness to thirty seconds and it was really helping with his anger issues. He'd barely even reacted to hearing that his aunt Marge was coming to visit. The funniest thing was that he just smiled and his uncle, who had started turning purple in preparation of screaming at him, had stopped with his mouth open is shock as Harry walked away.

Dudley had been angry when he couldn't even make fun of Harry's friends not sending him any letters. He had been in steady communication with Hermione and Luna; Hedwig was ecstatic about the workout. Hermione was on vacation with her parents in Europe. She was having trouble with Occlumency because she couldn't clear he mind, she was always thinking of something; she even said she couldn't get rid of the thought that she wasn't doing it properly.

Luna was with her father in the colonies, looking for a jackalope in a placed Yellowstone National Park. It was apparently going to be the feature of the next Quibbler. She too was having trouble with the Occlumency, but she confessed that it was mostly because she had seer blood from her mother's side of the family. It was interesting talking to her. Her gift wasn't necessarily about seeing the future, but about seeing things that were going on in the present; just not what was always visible.

Standing up. Harry walked towards his school trunk. Reaching in, he retrieved a long scroll of parchment. On it were his notes about the exercises in the Occlumency book. Since he couldn't remove any of the books, he had spent the last two weeks of the term transcribing the notes on the more interesting topics contained within Slytherin's Library. Another topic he found fascinating was the art of combining charms and transfiguration. While he couldn't actually perform any of the spells, he was fascinated by the concept. He had read about duels where in a single incantation, mages were able to transfigure debris into a lion and animated it to defend him from his opponents spells.

After having read the various examples, he was disappointed that Lockhart's was such nonsense. If it had been different, maybe they could have learned interesting ways of combining the spells they had already learned in new and creative ways. Getting back from his tangent, he opened the scroll further, till he reached the second exercise. It was interesting in and of itself. He was supposed to reach his state of calm, then working backwards from the present, he was supposed to review his experiences.

As his last thought crumbled into the flames, he remembered starting the calming technique, the next thought was reading about the second exercise, then his recollection of what he had read from the library. As he kept reviewing his memories, he eventually reached the ride home from Hogwarts. Luna and Hermione sat next to each other laugher at a joke Neville had just made. Ron was in the next car having a rematch from the chess tournament. It was almost unheard of, but Su Li of Ravenclaw had destroyed Ron's winning streak, and had taken first place in twelve moves. Ron had been sulking since his defeat and as the Express pulled out of Hogsmeade Station, he had stormed out in search of a rematch.

Coincidentally, Susan Bones, Terry Boot, Ernie Macmillan, and Millicent Bulstrode were with here, also looking for rematches. He wouldn't be surfacing any time soon. In a short time, Neville and Luna had begun to seen as if they'd been on the train in Harry's first year, and had been good friends for years. As Harry remembered, he felt himself smiling and chuckled quietly. He opened his eyes as he heard his relative s begin moving around and stood up and exited the room. He did his usual morning routine, then headed towards the kitchen to begin cooking breakfast. Recently he had been watching some cooking shows online, especially Top Chef. He imagined the rashers of bacon he was crisping as being a succulent stuffed pork shoulder and the eggs as being a delicate Hollandaise. He was so into his thoughts, he begun humming tune, but he really didn't recognize the source. But he did remember it involving the dismemberment of a man-sized purple and green dinosaur.

Harry's musings were interrupted by a small, localized earthquake, as his uncle Vernon and his cousin Dudley lumbered down the stairs. Seemingly running on autopilot, the sat down at the table, both occupying a side of the table each. Their eyes still half-lidded, Dudley even had a line of drool running for the food, and they grasped their utensils. As Harry was placing the finishing touches on the meal, his aunt strode in and sat on the third side of the table, her lips pursed in almost annoyance. She did not understand how her freak nephew was a better cook than her, when she toiled over long months she was at school and couldn't entice the same interest from her husband as the freak could.

Vernon and Dudley immediately began to gorge themselves on the scrumptious food, while Petunia dug in at a more sedate, if hurried pace. Occasionally, Vernon would mutter things "about freaks earning their keep" and "finally being useful," before continuing to devour the meal. Harry was content, thinking that maybe he should cook something for his friends when he got back to Gryffindor Tower. When his relatives were done, Harry having eaten right before the hippos came down, he placed the dishes into the new dishwasher before heading upstairs and returning to sorting his memories.

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In the Montana region of the Yellow Stone National Park, a man in startling lime-green robes stood behind a cluster of bushes. His long, ginger colored hair was slicked back, and he wore a pair of movie theatre 3-D glasses: the lenses in an odd dual-shade of fuchsia and teal. Next to him, a young blond girl in periwinkle blue floral print sundress crouched down and peered out of a gap between the leaves. She wore large medallion glasses, and had what appeared to be radishes in place of earrings. Around her neck was a necklace made of strange bottle caps, and a polished stick was holding her hair up in a bun. Xenophilius and Luna Lovegood were on the prowl and they were getting closer to their target.

Over the crest of the next hill, a group of horned, German Sheppard sized jackrabbits were grazing on the dense shrubbery. As Xenophilius slowly extended the telescopic lens on his camera, he slightly tapped a hanging branch and an acorn was knocked loose. The strange, oversized hares scattered at a surprisingly brisk pace, and Xenophilius was only able to snap a shot of a few fluffy tails.

"Blast! Foiled again!" Xenophilius exclaimed.

"We were so close daddy. It was the wrackspurts that made them flee. You know they cause a sudden need to go somewhere else. It's what the Ministry uses to stop muggles from going into Diagon Alley and St. Mungo's," Luna replied."

"We'll get them next time. I guess we'll go with the articles about Fudge's army of heliopaths and Stubby Boardman."

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Hermione huffed impatiently as she heard the magical portrait of the Mona Lisa ramble ad infinitum. She had come to France with her parents, who were in Paris for a masochistic interrogator's, umm… Oral surgeon's conference. On the way to a reception with their fellow dentists, her parents had dropped her off at the Louvre. While looking around, she had noticed an area that people seemed to avoid, and remembering how her parents acted around the Leaky Cauldron, had gone to investigate. She had apparently stumbled upon the magical section of the museum, where the magical versions of the famous artworks.

The statue of the Venus de Milo, which was animated, would alternately try to cover up, and tease passing wizards. The Thinker just sat there stoically, but would randomly spot philosophical one-liners and return to brooding. The Mona Lisa was the worst. She was a horrible gossip monger. She never seemed to shut up and kept making rude comments about 'Delacour's,' whoever they were. She was viciously muttering about 'scarlet women' and 'blond airheads.' Hermione wanted to pull out her hair, and was considering expulsion to cast a silencing spell.

The painting, hearing her accent, did warn her about an escaped convict named Sirius Black, and she somehow knew it involved Harry in some way. She hurriedly left towards the reception next door, so that she could return to the hotel and send Harry a letter to warn him about it.

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After watching a program on the telly involving a very flamboyant man in purple sparkling spandex and being highly traumatized, Harry had started exercising. He had started with simple push-ups and sit-ups and was hoping that becoming more fit would help him with Quidditch. I the beginning, he had been exhausted and could barely do more than a few dozen. He could now do a hundred of each and had started doing pull-ups using the door frame of his room. He would have done some running around the neighborhood, but the weather had been horrendous since news of that prison-break.

He had continued watching his cooking shows and even his relative ad begun to notice a distinct increase in the quality of the food he cooked. His aunt, Marge had come and gone, and even she hadn't been as abusive as usual. She was glad the Vernon had finally found a use for 'the useless freeloader.' All of his relatives had been surprised when Marge a stared insulting his parents, but she had stopped when Harry showed almost no reaction, he had only smiled and tilted his head. In his mind, Harry had been supremely vexed. He was furiously practicing the flame and the void technique, destroying all the expletives he wanted to hurl at Marge.

As he kept his violent reaction under control, his anger latched onto a mental image floating around the flames, of Marge shrinking and growing fur. Harry watched is shock as a small pug poked its head out of the pile of closed that were lying on the chair his aunt once occupied. Ripper, his aunt's favorite dog, came bounding into the kitchen, clearly in head, and bounded onto the new pug and proceeded to mount her. Everyone in the kitchen could only watch in shock, at the spectacle before them.

As they stood there in a daze, what sounded like popcorn cooking sounded from the back yard. Harry reached for his wand as a group of red robed individuals rushed into the dining room and proceeded to establish a perimeter.

"DMLE! Put your wand on the ground," one of them screamed.

Remembering Hermione commenting on Susan Bones' aunt, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Harry slowly placed his wand on the dining table.

"We've detected a large surge of magic in this area, Mr. Potter are you alright?" The apparent leader of the now identified Aurors inquired.

"Yes sir, everything's fine. I think I just performed some accidental magic, though," Harry replied.

"Really, at your age? I though Hogwarts was supposed to teach you how to control that?"

"Well you see, my aunt Marge got me really angry, she started insulting my parents and…"

"I see, no need to be alarmed. This happens often with magical orphans, it should be no problem clearing this up. Heaney!"

"Sir!"

"Call in the obliviators and the accidental magic reversal squad. Tell them code gamma, and step on it!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Heaney replied as he scampered out of the kitchen.

The leader of the Auror contingent turned to harry and said, "I'm sure you've heard by now but Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban."

"Who?" Harry replied.

"Oh! Well, you know the man who sold your family out to He-Who-Must-Not Be-Named…"

"What!" Harry roared in outrage. "Why didn't anyone tell me!?"

"Almost everyone knows. Didn't any of your friends tell you?"

"No. Well, not yet at least." Anything further Harry was going to say was postponed as Hedwig flew into the window and landed on his shoulder. Checking Hedwig's leg, he found a letter bearing Hermione's familiar tidy scrawl. Reading over it quickly, Harry laughed silently as Hermione described the conference of super villains her parents were attending. As he read over her adventures in the city, he read over the news about Sirius Black, after being shocked that there was a magical Mona Lisa, and appreciated the fact that Hermione tried to warn him. He could only laugh at her insinuation that he would actually go looking for a deranged psychopath killer, but welcomed the sentiment.

"It looks like I have one true friend at least." As harry said this, to more owl's flew into the room bearing missives from his friends. Neville and Luna had also sent warning about Black, and he was grateful that they cared, even though he hadn't been real friends them for long.

"We will be placing you into protective custody Mr. Potter. A room at the Leaky Cauldron is waiting for you, and there is too much traffic around both the pub and Diagon Alley for Black to make a viable attempt on your life. Tonks!"

"Sir!" a blue? Haired Auror replied from by the door.

"First, what have I said about the hair color?"

Auror Tonks sheepishly changed her hair to a dull brown and Harry gawked in shock; she hadn't even used her wand! "To keep it neutral sir!" she replied.

"Trainee's these days," the leader muttered hopelessly. "Standard protocol dictates that you maintain as inconspicuous as possible. Blue hair!? Follow Mr. Potter and help him assemble his belongings, we'' discuss your lapse in judgment when we return to base."

"Sir!" Tonks replied, then followed Harry into to hall. When they got to the hall, she directed Harry to gather his belonging. Making sure to retrieve everything from his hidden storage places, such as under the loose floorboard, Harry was about to start folding his clothes when Tonks jabbed her wand at the pile and said, "Pack!"

As he got over the surprise of seeing his things spontaneously began to arrange themselves into his school trunk, Harry turned to the Auror Trainee and asked, "How did you do that down there?"

"Do what?"

"Change your hair color?"

"Oh! I'm a metamorphmagus. I can control certain features of my body." To demonstrate, she wrinkled her forehead in concentration and slowly changed her nose into a pig's snout and back.

"Coll. Can I learn?" Harry said excitedly, and was almost bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Unfortunately, you have to be born with the ability, so no dice."

"How do you know if you have it."

"Well. Have you ever done something strange with some part of your body?"

Uh. One time my aunt shaved my head but left the piece of fringe covering my scar. My hair grew back overnight, and I haven't had to cut my hair since. Does that count?'

When was this, last week?" she replied.

"I think I was six or seven.'

"Really, even I have to focus to stop my hair from growing. Maybe you to have the ability. The only way for sure is to try something. Try making your hair change col…"

They were interrupted by a scream from downstairs. "Tonks! What is taking you so long. I've seen paint dry faster than it's taking you to pack a few things together. Hurry up!"

Tonks looked sheepishly over at Harry before levitating his trunk and heading out to the hall. Grabbing Hedwig's cage, Harry scampered after her."

"You should try changing the length and color of your hair first. Here should be some books in Flourish and Blotts. Send me an owl if it turns out you are a metamorphmagus too. I've been dying to find another for ages."

"Thanks. I'll be sure to," Harry responded as they reached the dining room.

"It took you long enough, Grab onto this shoe Mr. Potter, it's a portkey to the small garden bend the Cauldron."

Harry was reaching for the old boot that served as the portkey when he remembered the Hogsmeade permission slip. Bounding over to his uncle, he thrust his form under his uncle's nose, and his uncle, mindful of the group of freaks still in his house and eager to get rid of the freak early, hastily signed it. Harry returned to his luggage, and while reaching for the portkey, he speculated about two things. Why none of the Weasley's had tried to warn him about Sirius Black, and that he hadn't gotten a letter from Mafalda Hopkirk about underage magic use. He speculated that the Aurors only came because they were monitoring his relatives house incase Black tried to harm him. Harry smiled, and as he felt what seemed like a hook behind his navel, realized that the discovery, that wand-less magic was possible, promised a very interesting summer.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Another chapter and close to 300 hits! As usual, this is Unbeta'd but I hope to remedy that soon. While this update is quite soon after my last, it probably won't be happening anytime soon. Well, enjoy the new chapter and I hope it's good.

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Harry Potter slowly stood up from his Bed in the Leaky Cauldron. He had been moved to Diagon Alley a week and a half ago, and had just now finished the second Occlumency exercise: reviewing all his memories. As he kept going backwards into his history, his memories became easier to view as he had more practice. He had even seen the events that lead to his parents deaths on that fateful Halloween night twelve years ago. His parents had been sitting with him in the living room, when his father had suddenly looked up in alarm.

"Lily! He's here, take Harry and run!" He father had exclaimed reaching for his wand.

"No James, I can't leave you behind!"

"I'll hold him of Lils, you have to take harry to safety. One of us has to survive to take care of Harry!"

His mother had gathered him up off the floor and dashed up the stairs, but not before kissing the life out of her husband. When she reached the second floor landing, she rushed into the nursery and gathered up a few of their belongings, the attempted to apparate out. Harry had felt the begging of felling pushed through a small tube, when they seemed to run into a brick wall. She then tried an emergency portkey, but that too was met with failure. Realizing that Voldemort must have warded the house, she reached in the closet for a broom before clumsily climbing aboard. Her attempts to open the window were met with failure, and knowing the house had been warded against spell damage, hadn't even bothered to blast a second exit.

The heard a commotion from downstairs, and what sounded like an exchange of violent spells before a sudden disconcerting silence, then a high pitched laugh. Now frantic, his mother had reached into a pocket and pulled out a book before hastily flipping through the pages. She apparently found what she was looking for, because she had stopped, then began drawing strange symbols all over his skin. What he realized was an extensive rune scheme slowly covered his exposed skin before slowly fading away.

Just as his mother finished straightening out his clothes, the door to the nursery exploded off its hinges and banged into the opposite wall. An imposing black robed figure almost glided into the room, its red eyes, blazing from under a hood, the only discernable feature. As the Dark Lord entered the room, his mother slit her wrist and wiped it on his forehead, which glowed almost unnoticeably.

"Step aside woman!" Voldemort's unmistakable high pitched voice commanded.

"No! Please not Harry. Kill me instead!" his mother pleaded.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort incanted, the deadly green light speeding out of his wand before impacting Lily, she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Voldemort smiled as he turned his want to Harry. "So this is the child of prophecy, 'the one with the power to vanquish me' eh? How pathetic. Now you to shall die like your Mud-blood mother. Avada Kedavra!"

As the green light approached him, Harry saw the runes light up, before the unforgivable curse seemed to halt in mid-air, before turning around and impacting its castor. Harry last memory before blacking out was of the Dark Lord exploding into dust, the shade he remembered from his first year barreling out of the hose, like the hounds of hell itself were after it.

Harry smiled as remembered all the times his parents had doted over him, lavishing him with gifts and love. One of the most uncomfortable memories was his first. HE shuddered. His first memory was of his birth. He also happed to remember a conversation his parents had with a couple of their friends. A conversation about switching secret keepers…

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At the same time in France:

It was nearing the middle of July, and Hermione Granger was getting frustrated. Her parents were still at the dentistry conference, and they were enjoying themselves. While she too had been having fun, she'd been feeling lonely. This was alleviated slightly by the regular correspondence she'd shared with Harry since she'd sent him the warning a week ago. She was ecstatic; she had succeeded in the first Occlumency exercise and had just started the second.

She'd been disgusted when Harry warned her she would be experiencing her own birth, but the benefits far outweighed the cons. Near Photographic memory, instantaneous recall, and defense against mental intrusion. Wasn't that worth a little bit of squick? When she heard of Sirius Blacks innocence, she had been appalled at the failing of the legal system. After some research, she had determined that Black hadn't even been given a trial.

When she had shared this with Harry, he had guessed that Pettigrew was probably still alive in hiding and resolved to find him. After hearing about the horrors of the Dementors, she too had pitied an innocent man being a victim of their hospitality for twelve years.

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Harry stepped out of the shower. As he stopped in front of the mirror, he marveled at his now shoulder length hair. After purchasing a book about metamorphmagi from the book store, he had been practicing the techniques descried in the book in addition to his Occlumency exercises. The calm feeling he got from the flame and void greatly helped with his focus, a when he recommended the art to Tonks, who he had started meeting to practice when she got off work, she had hugged and kissed him in thanks of the now easier transformations.

He had come to see her as an older sister figure and they had developed a playful relationship, with her teasing and flirting with him on a regular basis. As he walked out of the bathroom he stopped in shock. Speaking of the devil, Tonks sat on the edge of his bed, wearing a Weird Sisters band shirt with purple spiky hair.

"Wotcher," she said as she saw him. "You've been working out I see. Trying to impress little old me?" she asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

Whereas before Harry would have blushed and bowed his head in embarrassment, after knowing her for a week, he was prepared with a retort. "Old is right. I prefer someone with an expiration date that isn't quite that close."

"That was better than usual, but you'll have to think of better comebacks. It's not like I'm that old anyways. What would you do if you say this face when you walked out?" With only a slight bit of concentration, she morphed into a likeness of Professor McGonagall. In her best imitation of the transfiguration mistress she pursed her lips in a severe line then said, "Mr. Potter. I expect better decorum from my lions. It is improper of you to be so forward as to greet me in such a state of undress."

Harry cracked up before falling to the floor, his towel becoming unwrapped. He wasn't ashamed of his nakedness because of his practicing earlier with Tonks. In order to properly see the changes they were making, they had practiced their transportations in the buff. While it had been awkward at first, Harry having learned more about the opposite sex in the first hour than in his whole life, he had grown accustomed to it. He could honestly say he knew more about women than all of the boys in the Gryffindor dorm, having briefly turned into one.

As there was really nothing Harry hadn't seen before, Tonks stripped to her birthday suit before sitting across from him on the floor. They flowed into their routine, slowly changing their features on by one, cycling through colors of eyes, hair and skin. Adjusting their height, weight and proportions, they opened their eyes, and then started changing into each other, Harry into Tonks and Tonks into Harry. As they stood up, having finished their routine, Harry addressed Tonks using the name she allowed only him to use.

"Dora, we've cut down the time to only thirty minutes. Maybe by the end of the week we can get it to only fifteen."

"I hope. It will help me with my job; being able to change into someone else in the time it takes me to turn a corner."

"Relax, you still have time. You're only in your second year at the Auror Academy; you have one more year after this one."

"I know, but I can't help but be nervous. I'm so clumsy."

"That's because you're always messing with your height. You're center of gravity is always changing. Why don't you keep the same height but just change your other features."

"I'll try and see if that's the case. Regardless, I have to be getting back, my shift starts soon."

"Good luck. See you this weekend?"

"Yeah, maybe. Whenever I'm free."

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In front of Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, Harry was enjoying his freedom from the Dursley's. He had opened a book of runes, his interest sparked from the revision of his memories, and he had a butterbeer float; and idea he gave to Mr. Fortescue. He had dipped into muggle London and had come across one of his new favorite things: pizza and now had a large cheese pie that he had been slowly devouring. While by the pizza place, he'd purchased a few books on fitness techniques, and had even purchased a few martial arts manuals.

Harry had moved on to the third Occlumency exercise: sorting his memories into categories, and it was going along smoothly. Remembering the incident with his aunt Marge earlier in the summer, he was attempting to perform wand-less magic. It was almost impossible, and the most he could do was budge a quill slightly, but it could have been a figment of his imagination. As he kept trying and failing, he'd developed an almost boiling rage. In order to calm down, he'd practiced the flame and void and succeeded in burning the thoughts of his anger, but the feelings still remained. Again, his anger had latched onto what he was trying to do, shoving the quill he was attempting to move so hard, it imbedded into the wall of his room. After realizing that the ability was caused by heightened emotions, he had tried again, with minimal success. On the plus side, he could now do simple, low-powered spells with just a little bit of focus, and was hoping to improve the ability.

As promised, Tonks had come during the weekend, and after practicing their morphing, she had taken him to his first movie. It had been an eastern martial arts film, starring Bruce Lee, and had caused harry to want to be able to some of the things ninja's could do. In that vein, he had been attempting to do a low powered wand-less sticking charm to the bottom of his feet, so that he could walk on walls. He had no luck so far. He decided to put the idea on the back-burner for the moment.

His work-outs were paying dividends. His stamina and overall feeling of wellness had increased, and he could now run faster for longer periods of time. He had contacted Ron, Hermione, and McGonagall, about dropping Divination and taking up Runes and Arithmany, another subject he'd developed an interest in. Ron had replied that he would stick with Divination, but there was still no mention of Black. Hermione had been overjoyed, and McGonagall had commended him on dropping the useless rabble, that some 'crack-pot' named Trelawney taught. When he informed Hermione of this, she had dropped the class her idol thought as being useless like a hot coal. Harry had also got her to drop Muggle Studies, citing someone as ill-informed as Mr. Weasley teaching the class. She had agreed.

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Harry returned to His room in the cauldron, and finished his Occlumency and wand-less exercises. He had almost completed the cauterization of his memories, and could produce the faint glow of a 'lumos' surrounding his hand. With things looking up, Harry was content to lay back and enjoy the view of the setting sun. HE was in for a busy summer, but it was all going to pay off in the end. With his birthday approaching in two weeks, he made a mental note to do something nice for himself.

Remembering his upcoming lesson with Tonks, he cursed the fact that he was in puberty, because his Occlumency exercises had become less effective in stopping his natural biological reaction to the presence of a naked female…Damn Hormones!


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: I know it's been almost one and a half years since I've updated this story, but I had an unpleasant run in with real life and I am only just now beginning to clear my plate. I'm going to try and get into a more regular update cycle, but to start making up here's an update. There were some concerns about the Tonks/Harry interactions in the last chapter, and I'd like to get them out the way. No, this is not a Honks pairing; and the reason that magazines couldn't be used for metamorphmagus training is because pictures are static, and harry needed to be able to see the entire transition as his features shifted. Thanks for all the hits and I hope you review. Now on with the story!

Harry slowly drew in a breath as he tried to change the length of his toes, faster and faster and Tonks looked on in silence. They both had cut ten minutes off of their morphing routine and it showed in the speed with which they did the smaller transformations. Like Harry, she too had begun working out and she agreed that it really did help. She was able to keep going through Auror training longer and it did help improve her metamorphmagus abilities, if only a little bit. Training with Harry also had some other benefits. As one of the few female Auror recruits, she had a hard time fitting in to the male dominated profession.

She had few friends there, and it seemed all the guys were only interested in her ability to change herself. It was nice having someone to talk to who didn't want her to become 'that actress in that move, or that supermodel in that magazine' or other such nonsense. While she had seen Harry reacting to her attire; or lack thereof, she knew it was just that: a reaction. He hadn't tried to come onto her, which would have been weird, and she saw it as a complement. She thought even he would agree that they were almost siblings, and there wasn't really any overt sexual attraction between them. Looking down at her own rapidly changing toes, she let a breath and turned to Harry

"Alright, we're done for today! Remember to keep practicing and we'll see if we can't get our fingers up to speed next time."

Harry started, he must have really been concentrating; and then, after sheepishly fixing his mismatched toes, stood up and put his shoes back on. Since they had only been working on their extremities today, there was no reason for them to get naked, thus they just stayed barefoot for the duration of the session. After also standing up and cracking her back from sitting in one place for such a long time, she too put on her shoes and began gathering her things.

"Hey Tonks, has there been any news on Sirius Black?"

"Nothing yet. You should concern yourself with that right now. As long as you stay around the Leaky Cauldron, there shouldn't be any problems. If anything comes up I'll be sure to tell you, but do me a favor and stay out of trouble."

"Have you no faith? I'm not an idiot Tonks, I'm not going to go looking for a psychopath that wants to kill me!" Looking down at his shirt, it said 'Carry your own emotional baggage!,' Harry had to marvel at the feeling of having clothes that actually fit him. "Thanks again for taking me shopping, it's nice to not be Dudley saggy seconds."

"Don't mention it, we still have to go get the rest of your wardrobe!" Tonks replied with a smile.

"Wait, what! We were out for four hours, and we're still not done? …its okay, I think I have enough, he he he he," Harry finished with a nervous laugh. While it was nice having new clothes, the thought of being dragged around the mall and being manhandled as a glorified dress up doll again… he had shivers just thinking about it.

"Enough? Poppycock! We still have to get you some winter and spring outfits!" Tonks had a smirk on her face remembering making Harry try out whatever she wanted… good times. "See you soon for our shopping trip!"

With that, Tonks exited the room as Harry grumble behind her. Smiling wistfully, she headed down the stairs so she could floo home. Maybe she could convince Harry to try some more *colorful* shirts…

Hermione looked out at the view over Paris from the view of the _third_, magical, restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. Located above Altitude 95, but hidden from muggles; how Hermione hated that world, L'Alexandre Dumas, was a quaint establishment that catered to the magical tourists that visited the monument. Both her family and her new acquaintances had decided to dine here to get to know each other better. Seeing a slight reflection of herself in the mirror, she remembered the last few days. After she left the museum she stumbled into the French version of Diagon Alley: Le Champs Enchanté, and had a look around. While looking for a present for Harry she bumped into a family of gorgeous blondes, and she could see why the Mona Lisa was jealous. Even she would admit that Apolline Delacour and both her daughters Fleur and Gabrielle were simply stunning. Fleur had seemed a bit full of herself, but her mother had been very generous when she noticed that Hermione seemed lost and offered to show her around.

When she mentioned her dilemma in choosing a gift, Apolline had come through again and suggested the perfect gift. Once the Delacour's realized who exactly her friend was they were surprised, and Gabrielle had started almost vibrating in excitement. She began hopping up and down spewing about a barrage of questions: asking if what the books said was true, if he really saved princesses while riding a Pegasus, and if he had a pet dragon; just the usual questions a 5 year old would ask. Apolline and Fleur pretended to not be interested, but they quietly listened as Hermione answered the little ball of energy. Over the next few days and while her parents were still meeting with the other dentists *cough* sadists *cough*, Hermione's sightseeing continued with some unexpected company: The Delacour's. They had decided to stick with her, not only to hear about her version of the tale of Harry Potter, but to try and get to know her.

Talking with the Delacour's was also an enlightening experience. Monsieur Delacour worked at the French Ministry of Magic and in contrast to the rest of his family, he was a black haired, plump, but very amicable man, if a bit in the short side. He frequently regaled the group of his dealings with the incompetent English Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and his pompous, short-sighted views of the rest of the wizarding world. It was when Mr. Delacour brought up the prejudiced views of Fudge's Senior Undersecretary Delores Umbridge that the heritage of the blondes in the house came to light. Apolline and her daughters were half and quarter Veela, respectively. Hermione could understand a bit of the bigotry that the English Purebloods showed them, being a victim of it herself; and she believed that Fleur attitude was a defense mechanism used to prevent her true feelings from showing. After learning that Fleur's female friend had left her out of jealousy of the interest all the boys were showing to her because of her Allure, Hermione resolved that she would do her best to not let it affect their newfound friendship.

As she returned to her family's meal with the Delacour's, he wondered if Harry might be able to come over to France the week after his birthday…

Xenophilius and Luna were trekking through Central Park in New York City in full safari gear amidst the inquiring looks of the locals. Xeno, with a wooden pipe and wearing khaki hunters hat shaped very much like Elmer Fudd's, was moving along in the same exaggerated way as the cartoon character on the prowl made quite a sight. Besides him, Luna was happily skipping along in bright pink and red, camouflage jogging suit. They had come to look into rumors of a Spider Man that lived in the city and they thought that the place they would be most likely to find such a creature would be the place with the most vegetation. While hunting for jackalope in Yellow Stone, they caught a glimpse of the being on one of the muggle picture boxes while passing by a building called 'Blockbusters?' Disappointed that they couldn't get proof of jackalope's they were trying this angle so that they could save the story of Minister Fudge eating Goblin mince pies; it was such a find! Getting back to the matter at hand, he again focused on the hunt. Maybe this Spider Man was a wizard who botched the animagus transformation, and hadn't been caught by the local Ministry?

Looking up from the latest letter from Hermione, Harry just had to shake his head. He was somewhat jealous of all the vacations she seemed to go on with her parents and the fun she always had. The Delacour's seemed like an interesting family, and he wondered if his Occlumency training would give him at least a resistance to the Allure. When Tonks came over the weekend, he hoped she could be convinced to accompany him to France; so that no one could complain that he wasn't being protected from Black. He had never left the country and he was excited at the possibility; maybe they could even spend a week sightseeing?

Setting down the letter, he settled onto an exercise mat that he purchased in London. He was finally starting to see some results with his attempts at wand-less magic. Instead of a slightly glowing hand when he used a 'lumos,' he could create and sustain a half-sphere of light in his palm. There was also some progress with some of the other simple spells he learned at the beginning of first year. He could levitate things up to the weight of his desk chair, though for only a short time with the heavier objects, and could change a matchstick into a needle with heavy concentration; it seemed that transfiguration would be a harder branch to learn to do without a wand. He had partially succeeded in one of his other goals: he could use a mild wand-less sticking charm. When he tried to walk over the walls like the ninjas in the film he saw, he ran into another few problems. While he could stick his feet to the wall of his room, he had to cancel and reapply the sticking charm every time he took a step which was very draining. The second problem he found was that even though his feet were stuck to the wall, the rest of his body was still subject to gravity. He either had to find a way to fight that, maybe make himself lighter, or continue wall crawling like Peter Parker did in the Spiderman comics Dudley read. Either way, he needed to up his workout to strengthen his core and upper body.

While exploring Diagon Alley, he had found a few lesser alleys branching off from it apart from Knockturn. Branching off from between Eeylops Owl Emporium and Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions was Aesthetic Alley, which held shops dedicated to appearance. Along the alley were shops that sold clothes, gardening supplies, paints, and other similar stores. Harry ran into two things that he had been looking for; an Optician and at the end of the alley, a small park. At Opulent Optics, Harry was able to purchase a new pair of glasses that more accurately fit his prescription; they would be ready to pick up the week of his birthday. While the glasses he had always worn still worked; because he hadn't gotten an eye exam in years his prescription had changed and his glasses had begun to blur.

The park at the end of the alley was very peaceful. Harry had seen a plethora of small magical creatures running/flying around, and he'd seen people having picnics and little kids buzzing low to the ground on training brooms. To help with his workout, Harry had started running the path in the mornings. He couldn't run for that long but like his workouts he's been slowing working up to a decent time. It was now a common sight to see him coming back to the Leaky Cauldron drenched in sweat in the early morning. Few people were awake, but he made it a habit to try talk to those that were up setting up shop. On one such day, the last Monday of the month, he cleaned up and helped Florean Fortescue open up his ice-cream parlor. As a thank you, he'd gotten a free banana split which he finished before starting his Occlumency Exercises.

He had finished categorizing his memories and was now moving his more important memories and the secrets he wanted to keep to the center of his mind. Around these memories he would keep everything else in order of decreasing importance with the farthest memories from the center being the most inconsequential of things: like his meals and potions homework. This was another time consuming part of Occlumency but he hoped to be finished by his birthday on Saturday. That reminded him; he needed to find a present for Neville who was only a day older than him.

**E/N:** I'm finishing up the next chapter, which I'll post in a few days.


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